Tag Archives: Dargonelly Rock Hole

3rd April – We had pancakes for breakfast and a leisurely morning before doing the loop and driving to the information hut where you can still self-register. There are some information boards on the area. Some old cattle yards and the old station buildings which are now occupied by the ranger’s quarters and office. Lots of kangaroos were resting in the shade.

We drove in and checked out West Branch Camping Area. Over twice the size of Dargonelly, more trees, more of a bushy setting. Quite a nice spot. This is also one of the camping areas on route for the Carnarvon Great Walk. There is a swinging bridge that leads back onto the walk, it was very swingy.

We then stopped in a Lot’s Wife, a very tall pillar of sandstone which is the last remnant of a bluff that once extended across the area. It is only a very short walk from the road.

Next stop was Kookaburra Cave, 850m easy walk from the road, there are a few stairs near the end that led up to a platform to view the small number of Aboriginal rock art.

Then it was back for lunch. All the sites in Mt Moffatt have to be driven to. A trip around the park can easily add up to over 100 km’s so make sure you have plenty of fuel.

We had a relaxing arvo around camp, enjoying the tranquillity, listening to the birds singing, the rustle of the leaves in the breeze and at times the complete utter silence. Watching the white puffy clouds forming then dissipating before our eyes. The only annoying aspects are the buzzing mossies. There are quite a few of them due to the water in the creek which is mostly stagnant.

For arvo tea I cooked fruit scones in the baby Webber which we ate as we watched the newly arrived camper’s setup camp.

We finished off the day with lamb roast which we ate around the campfire, a most enjoyable relaxing day.

What a rotten night sleep, I had to sit up all night due to coughing. It also rained during the night and thoughts of will we get out crossed my mind, as they say in wet weather the road becomes impassable.

The plan today was to head up to the 4wd part of the park up to Rotary Shelter shed also go past the ranger station and info centre, also check out the other camp ground vans are supposed to be able to get into. All went according to plan part from going up to the shelter shed; we got 4 km’s up the 12km road and came across a bad muddy patch that we couldn’t get up. We then went back to the van and had the arvo just relaxing and reading mags, the weather was overcast but not raining. We did decide that if the weather was the same tomorrow we would head out early.

We have had a busy day. In the morning we went to Marlong Arch. This is a natural sandstone arch that doesn’t look like it’s staying up there by much. A chain saw could have come in handy as trees were in the way of the photo we wanted to take. Still took lots of shots of this amazing feature. After that we went to Lot’s Wife. This is a tall pillar of sandstone, it’s funny seeing it sticking up all on it’s own in the middle of the trees, goes up a long way. We then took a drive out to Marlong Plain as it is supposed to be a good place to see the sunset as it lights up the sandstone cliffs. We didn’t think it was much, on the way back out we saw an Emu with 6 little chicks, the chicks ran and mum position herself in between until she knew they were safe, very cute. We headed back to the van for lunch and saw a lizard sunning itself on the road, yep we took some photos before it got fed up of us and moved away.

After lunch we went to the looking glass which was back towards the entrance of the park so back down the bumpy road. The looking glass is a hole through an isolated pillar, you can see trees through the other side. Back to the car for a drink, it was quite hot and giving my cold a work out. We then went to the 3 Chimneys, three pillars of rock separated from the others standing there like chimneys. We had the wide 10-22mm lens and our long lenses but neither were quiet right from where we stood. So Chris gets the idea to make our way up to the pillars which we did coughing and all but the wide angle was perfect up there. Nice clouds behind them, blue sky and well lit up from the sun. We had just worked our way back down when more clouds came over and the nice lighting went.

After another long drink we headed back and went home, well kind of via a 15km 4wd road that seemed better than the so called main road that all cars can use with the corrugations. At the end of the 15km was another camp ground, called Top Moffatt Campground that is very nice, green grass and very isolated. There was a creek crossing on the way in so hence the 4wd track.

We think we are the only ones, apart from the ranger in the whole park. We got a fire going and the plan was to have a relax in front of the fire eat tea before a quick shower and view our photos, but bad wind came up, so we had to desert our fire for the night.

I had more hours sleep but a cough has set in and woke during the night with a really tight chest and unable to breath out of the nose. Had to have Sudafed and use the Asthma puffer during the night. We picked up some cough medicine, Vicks and a few other medical stuff to hopefully help me. Looks like it is Asthma bought on by the cold, at time of writing I have pretty well lost my voice and I cough if I try and talk. Hope I feel better soon.

We left Injune around 10am on our way to Mt Moffat National Park. First 70km are bitumen; the next 90km is dirt. Oh we saw another Echidna crossing the road, this one quite quick, we stopped and raced out to have a look as we got close he stuffed his head under some grass, I have a photo of his butt.

The dirt road in is pretty rough. The first half is sandy and the going wasn’t too bad, the second half was terrible. Lots of corrugations, things were moving around a lot in the car so we stopped and checked the van several times. A shelf in the fridge had fallen off but no damage. 2 eggs had cracked but Chris had them for lunch so no waste.

There is an old hut and cattle yards on the way which we stopped and took a few photos, not good lighting though so we will stop on the way out. We got here around 3pm that included stopping for morning tea and lunch, it’s a slow trip in, but we made it. Oh we passed or should I say ran over the top of one lucky goanna. It just ran straight in front of us, we think it went in front of the left front tyre and behind the right front tyre, must have taken some skin off.

Wow, yep that’s what we said when we pulled into Dargonelly Rock Hole Camping area. A good size bush grass area along the creek with birds whizzing about every where. There is one other camper who is leaving tomorrow. It is so peaceful here beautiful blue sky surrounded by trees and the only noise coming from the many birds flying around. While we were having a cuppa and some slice, 2 cheeky magpies kept coming up, trying to get any crumps. One flew onto my foot stool, so I got some crumps and hand fed it, then it hopped onto my legs. I shooed it away but it came back and then decided that my toes looked good enough to eat so it had a nibble, cheeky thing. After a cuppa we had a walk around and a good chat to the bloke camping on his own.

After a very yummy tea we went looking for frogs, found a few very small ones but not a lot. It’s a very mild night out there. We have been surprised how warm it has been so far. On the way in we kept seeing these holes made by some creature on the road, in groups, we thought they were too big for ants but on our walk tonight we saw lots of little ants coming out of the holes. They must be nocturnal ants as they didn’t like the torch and they weren’t out during the day.

The new set up with the table and chairs is working a treat. Apart from the brakes the only other issue we had had is getting food out of the new freezer. I was so concerned about just getting the food in I didn’t put a lot of thought to what order it went in, was hoping it would just sort it self out as we ate our way through it. But Murphy’s Law dictates the thing you want has to be right down the very bottom and when you have pulled it out all the food you didn’t want to falls in the hole. Push here and there and we managed to get the lid down quick.